Vibrasjoner

Josef Halse is a Sami visual artist. He grew up in Alta and Kautokeino.

Halse han an art education from the Fine Arts-program at the Oslo National Academy of Arts.

He works whit abstract and semi-abstract painting, whit motifs that derive impulses from nature. 
Halse often takes photographs outdoors and uses them as sketches for his paintings. He is inspired by the motifs he sees and photographs and interprets and processes them into his artwork.
His works aew characterized by colors and rhythms of the changing seasons here in the north. The impressions from the vast nature on vidda (plains) and by the coast are reflected in his motifs, or he goes close to heather and other plants and processes the impressions in expressive works. Halse paints whit both acrylic and oil colors, on canvas or board.

Josef Halse is also a musician and takes the rhytmic elements of music into his paintings and vice versa.
Himself describes his work as visual joiks, the traditional Sami form of songs. He experiments whit different formats and painting types, explores techniques, and challenges his working methods with constantly new investigations and experiments.

He opened an exhibition at Norway's Arctic University, department Alta, on February 6 last year. On the same day this year, he celebrates the Sami Nationak Day with an exhibition at Nordkappmuseet in Honningsvåg together whit artist Simon Gripenberg.

Josef Halse is a social and inclusive artist who initates creative collaborations within both  the visual and musical art fields.

Halse is currently preparing an exhibition that will open in November 2024 in the Alta Museum

Simon Gripenberg is a Finnish-Swedish, diverse multi-artist from Jakobstad in Ostrobothnia, Finland. In addition to studying art, he hasa technical background, which characterizies his work. He creates works that playfully combine art and technique. Gripenberg mostly work whit used materials, and the artistic expression and style are therfore partly random and suprising, which depends on what materials are at hand when the work is created.

His themes include sustainability, the environment, nature, climate, and social justice, in addition ti technology. A couple of years ago, Gripenberg issued the publication "Sápmi-Svenskfinland: samtal om kultur,miljö ich rättvisa" (Sápmi - Swedish Finland: Conversation about culturem enviroment, and justice). Here the sami perspective meets the Finnish- Swedish one. His most recent art exhibition was in Vasa, Finland. The exhibition was called "Rájahis - Borderless" and he invited the sami artist Hilde Skancke Pedersen to exhibit whit him.

Nature is a central source of inspiration for Gripenberg, who is attracted by slowness, simplicity, low technology, and biomimicry - that is, in a humble way, you allow yourself to be infpired by nature's own ingenious problem - solving abilities. 
His art projects are most oftenexperimental and have links to natural science. Through his art, he explores physical phenomena - such as friction, and heat exchange, as well as alternative mindsets and technical solutions.

In shortm one can say that Gripenberg's work combines seriousness with humor and hope, like hope for the future. In concrete terms, it is primarily about installations, but over the years he has also created performative works in the form of public sculptures.

Some works in the exhibition at Nordkappmuseet have direct links to ice and snow, and in this way are linked to the local environment and the museum's profile. 

Nordkappmuseet wanted to offer Simon Gripenberg exhibition space whit opening on February 6 because of his work in making Sami art known in Ostrobothnia in Finland, and because og his highly relevant artistry.

On the website https://simonshares.org/pics.html, the public can familiarize themselves whit some of Gripenberg's previous art projects. On https://youtube.com/simonshares there is documentation of some of the artistic processes. At https://issuu.com/simonshare, some publications are open available.